The Witch, the Hunter, and the Werewolf King
by SimplexityJane
Summary: In the beginning there was one Alpha, and the power was always bought by death. Needless to say, this was a bad idea. Werewolf history in this.


******This is actually sort of depressing. I wanted to write a werewolf mythology piece and this sort of spewed out. It's not betaed, so if you catch any errors it's all my fault.**

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In the beginning, there was one Alpha. Always one, always a power bought by death. Whether by natural causes, in which case the power would pass down to the eldest son or daughter, or by murder, this was the way of things. The Pack was all, but Omegas did attempt to steal their rights and become Alpha in turn.

In these days the Hunters attacked frequently, the Silver family foremost among their enemies. For in this day wolves could become wild- too many of them for one Alpha to control, yet too few to guard against a determined assault. The Alpha was often murdered within a moon of his or her Turn, either by Hunters or by the Pack, for one Alpha alone would never be enough to lead every wolf.

One day a young Beta, a female, found her way to a witch's hollow. Though wolves and witches did not ally themselves with each other, this one must help her, for her father had been murdered and her outcast from the pack, along with her brothers. As the eldest, they looked to her, and had the witch refused her she would have readily rent her limb from limb.

She did not ask for the power of the Alpha for herself. That would have been too simply done, too trickily carried out. Instead she asked that the witch allow Pack to become many. Family, she said. And when the young grow old, they will leave, in groups, and be Pack of their own. The eldest, still under their Alpha, but Alpha to their Pack.

The witch saw that she was wise, but without cunning, and she said to her that in three days time, the night of the new moon, she would have her answer.

Three days hence, under no light save the stars, the witch gave her her answer.

Three children shall come from your womb, she said. One shall be your instrument of change. One shall join the Hunters, an enemy forever. And one shall be mine, blood without taint of wolves or vendetta.

The Beta was horrified at the terms of the deal, and attempted to refuse. But the witch had performed her magic with her words, and so the spell was cast.

The Beta had no lover, so she was unsure how any child could quicken in her womb. But within the next moon she found herself, bewitched by the light of the moon and the silver eyes of the man inside her, creating a child. The Hunter attempted to kill her the next morn, but she easily defeated him and, with her laugh, entrapped him within the same curse she carried. He taught her his words and she her own, and when he met her brothers they did not quarrel. That a man of Silver would choose to mate with one of their kind was unheard of, but her brothers did not forget her deal even as she did.

When she forced the child out of her under the light of a waning moon she knew at once that this daughter was human. The Silver man knew that the child would not be safe, a human born of a wolf, and so he left with her in his arms. He carried her words with him, however, and the girl grew up knowing that a wolf was not a beast unless under the full moon, and she took power when it became clear no one else could.

The Beta despaired, her grief paining her brothers for one hundred days and nights. On the one hundred and first day she left their home, setting out on a hunt for the witch who she believed had stolen her child. Instead she found a man, eyes green and hair burning, and a rage that called to her own. Their lovemaking was fierce and wild, her teeth and claws seeming to have no effect on him. In her heart she knew that he was an instrument of the witch's curse, but in her grief and anger she did not care, for no matter how many times she attempted to destroy him he remained intact, healing even faster than her brothers.

She asked him if he would raise the child not to fear the wolves and he laughed at her. Of course, he said, for the only way you can harm me is if you die before I heal. The child will be so as well.

And if she is bitten and the wolf dies? she asked, for there was no way this child would be anything but female.

She shall be bound, lest the Worm Moon pass her unmolested.

The months passed in their solitude, and her grief was great. But the man knew her curse, and though he cared for her he could not change Fate's rule. The child was born under the same moon that had sealed this deal, with much more pain than her sister's, and for a moment the wolf thought she had been born without breath, but then she uttered a shrieking wail, and the wolf knew she was strong.

She left the day after the next, returning home to find that her youngest brother had taken a wife in the year she had been gone. She was a good wolf, though she was an Omega. Their firstborn was a strong wolf who loved to bounce on his aunt's lap. The Beta would laugh as she cried. The child would one day be an Alpha, she knew, as per her deal with the witch.

There was a new Alpha, who had been a friend in their youth. He left the Pack and found her under the light of a full moon. He was shaking with the power, too young to ever last, and she pitied him. She asked him to stay, let the power fade, but he refused, and he left her before she had even forgotten their pleasure. When she heard of his death she forced their family to leave their home, knowing that this child would be hunted even in her womb.

When he was born she was alone, not even her brother's wife to help. It was the way of things, that this child would be hers alone, and she named him as she had not been able to name either of her daughters. He would be an Alpha, he would be a king among their people, she knew this as well as she knew her own soul, so she gave him this name. Derek, she called him, and his eyes, when they met hers, were an icy blue that she had never before seen on a wolf.

She did not tell him he would be an Alpha. She did not tell him that his cousin would be one as well. She taught him how to hunt, and how to remember, and with the touch of claws to his neck told him of his sisters, though one was now an enemy and the other unreachable. He grew into manhood and was a renowned warrior, the ice in his eyes and the fire in his veins crying out for something he had no name for.

The woman was fire, Silver in her blood. She was not his sister, thankfully, but she was no friend to wolves. She followed the Code, however, and never had he killed save what deserved to be killed. The fire in her only fanned his, but they were reviled. She was called a traitor, him an abomination, and many entities attacked them day and night. He defeated them all, her by his side, but on one night- his mother there to coach the woman through labor, him weakened without her- an attacker was able to slip past him while her minions distracted him. His mother fought fiercely, blood staining her muzzle and not fading when she was human, his wife just as boldly, but even as the babe was saved his mother was wounded grievously.

This first Derek felt her pain as if it was his own, and the howl of anguish he unleashed was so great that all the wolves of the hills joined him in it. She lay dying there, his mother holding their newborn, and her silver eyes were dimming as his changed to blood. He bit her on the wrist, his blood becoming hers, and the Beta's spell was finally completed.

Alpha, she told him, and offered her throat. Her brothers too, though her nephew was now Alpha over his own children and he had to leave. His territory could not be that of another Alpha's.

The Beta met the witch under the light of the full moon. She smiled with sharp teeth, showing her the daughter they had created. She had the look of her father, though she had been raised by a mother, and though she did not know her mother the bond was there. For one day and one night they lay under the sky before the Beta died, buried under the moon, freed by the plant that would have killed her in life.

This is our tale, Derek. Our family was Alpha, and then Omega, and Beta before Alpha again, and we must remember this. The Omega may murder and gain power, though should the Pack reject him he shall still be Omega lest he form his own Pack. The Beta may become Alpha through right, or age, or the remembered loss. The lone wolf rarely survives. You must survive, Derek, for we are the last. Our mother and father are dead, the Pack nearly destroyed. I may be Alpha, but I believe I am more like the first Derek's father, who could not keep the power. I love you so very much. I'm going to leave now. I'm going back home. I know you hate it when I leave you without an explanation, so I'm leaving you a memory. You'll be healed by the time you wake up.

See ya, Grumpy.


End file.
